Harmer targets Lions' inexperience

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In his final Test, New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum hit the fastest-ever Test century, off just 54 balls.

Cape Town - Warriors spinner Simon Harmer is looking forward to facing the Highveld Lions in their Momentum One-Day Cup qualifier at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium on Wednesday.

The Eastern Cape franchise ended third on the regular season table and must now travel to Johannesburg to face the hosts, who earned the right to play at home by virtue of ending second on the log.

However, Harmer believes they will have to be smart to oust the in-form Lions and sees an area within their bowling ranks that could be exposed.

“I think they’ve got quite a young side,” he said. “They rely heavily on their top four or five in the batting department and I feel they’ve got quite an inexperienced bowling attack.

“There are some experienced bowlers, but on a whole, I think there are quite a few inexperienced bowlers there, which could play into our hands if we are able to expose them.”

Seamers Carmi le Roux, Matt McGillivray and Sean Jamison as well as spin bowler Bjorn Fortuin, have played just 18 matches between them.

Harmer continued: “There’s a reason why the Lions have finished second, they’ve played some good cricket. But I do think if we can put them under pressure, there’s a bit of inexperience there that we could exploit.”

Meanwhile, Harmer expects the Warriors to be completely up for the challenge, saying they are treating the match as any other.

“The Warriors always play well when they are under pressure and they have their backs to the wall, so I expect things to go well for us on Wednesday,” he added.

“I think the biggest thing for us is not to treat the game any differently from a regular season game. It is a semi-final, but at the end of the day it’s just another game of cricket. That’s been the message for us (from the coaching staff), just take is as though it’s a normal game.”

The Cape Cobras await the winner of the game in Sunday’s final at PPC Newlands in Cape Town.

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